Puckleberry Goodness
by dreams of a stranger
Summary: Rachel is with Finn, but doesn't love him. Puck is in love with Rachel, but can't have her. Will these two Hot Jews ever be allowed to be together? A collection of random chapters that may make a story or may stay as drabbles, who knows?


**So a couple of years ago I had an idea for a Glee story, started it (it's on my profile – Junior Year) and never had the time or the creative will to finish it. I do, however have a loads of key point of the story planned out in my head. Sooooo, here they are as drabbles. They will roughly be chronological, and for easiness I've jumped it to the current series of Glee, whereas the Junior Year is set after series 1. Someday I may join these dots into a full-length fic, but for now I give you Chapter 1!**

He slumped in the hard plastic chair in the choir room and stared resolutely forwards at Mr Schuester who was giving the glee club another talk about self-acceptance and individuality. To everyone else, it looked like Puck was letting his usual lackadaisical attitude shine through, but she knew different.

Rachel sat at the other end of the row with her head turned in Puck's direction, trying to catch his eye as he tried to avoid hers. She struggled no to tense up as she felt Finn's hand snake across the back of her chair and start to trail up and down her arm. Puck, however, could not stop his hands from clenching into angry fists as he saw the physical contact between the club co-captains in the periphery of his vision.

As Mr Schuester ended his speech, having referenced Gaga twice, Barbra once, and Journey four times, the club dispersed. Rachel shook Finn off with the excuse of wanting to use the piano, and sat on the bench in front of the instrument to wait. Finally there was just the two of them left: Rachel and Puck. Noah

'_Her Noah'_ Rachel thought with a pang of longing.

Puck hadn't moved from his seat, and now focused his gaze at the space directly above Rachel's head, resisting the urge to look into the deep brown eyes which were his biggest weakness.

"Tell me why." He said bitterly.

"I told you – "she began, before she was cut off by Puck's fist banging onto the seat next to him.

"No you didn't!" he demanded. "You told me you couldn't be with me, but you didn't tell me why."

"It's complicated." She whispered.

"So explain it to me.", he snapped, his anger finally bubbling to the surface. "Last I checked it was pretty simple: I love you, you love me but you don't want to be with me. Why is it so complicated that we can't be together?"

"I'm with Finn."

"But you're in love with me."

"Yes."

"That's fucked up Rachel." He said, finally looking at her.

"I know, but it's how it has to be. We've both hurt Finn too many times in the past, together, on our own, and with other people. I won't let that happen again, he doesn't deserve it. He told me last week that his life hasn't worked out the way he thought it would, and that our relationship and our plans for the future are the only things that make everything seem OK." She said

"So you're going to stay with him even though you don't want to, because he's a nice guy?" at her nod he scoffed. "You can't keep up the act forever – you're not that good of an actress. You won't always be able to hide the fact that you don't like him touching you, or kissing you. What if it goes on for years? Are you going to marry him, have his kids? If you break up with him far down the line, it'll hurt so much more than if you do it now."

"He'll hate us both." She looked at him with tears building up in her eyes. Puck's heart broke a little bit at the misery on her face, and he moved to kneel in front of her, taking both her hands in his own.

"Look, I agree that dumping Finn then making out with me in the corridor the next day is a bad idea. He'd hate you and hit me, and the rest of the glee club would totally take his side, but even if we can't be together I still think you should break with him. If you don't love him, it's the right thing to do. And, when the time is right and Finn can handle it, I'll be waiting for you; even if it takes years and you're living in New York, I'll still want you." Puck said earnestly.

"Thank you." She said, feeling a weight lifting off of her shoulders as his words sunk in and she realised what she had to do.

Puck knelt upwards and pressed a soft, comforting kiss to her forehead, then lent his own against it. "Plus it's only a problem if people find out. Sneaking around is totally hot." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively to lighten the mood and was rewarded by Rachel's exasperated groan and a light punch to the upper arm.

While Rachel Berry was not prone to stage fright, being the extremely talented and experienced performer that she was, she had been feeling a certain amount of anxiety in the lead up to talking to Finn that evening.

She had gone to his house after dinner, and explained to him as plainly as possible that she just did not have the same level of feeling for him as she once did, and that she felt that they would work better as friends.

Amazingly, he had taken the whole thing very well, saying that he had felt them drift apart of the last few weeks. Rachel was pleasantly surprised when Finn told her that he was glad they had ended things amicably, and was confident that they could remain friends.

"So, is it true?" Mercedes probed as she cornered Rachel by her locker the following morning at school, "did you end it with Finn?"

Rachel took a deep breath, having prepared her statement in advance like a true public figure. "While it is true that I made the first move in terminating our relationship, I can assure you that Finn and I parted amicably and in a manner that will in no way affect the functioning of the New Directions, or alter the way our group of friends operates in a social setting."

"Whatever girl, I'm just stoked about the fact that Mr Quarterback got his ass dumped by a girl who got slushied for a record 43 consecutive school days. This could change everything." Mercedes said with a dreamy look in her eyes.

At that moment Kurt weaved his way through the sea of people and ran over to his two friends.

"Rachel!" he gasped, out of breath from his cross-school dash when he had caught a whisper from someone about this gossip. "Did you really break up with Finn?"

Rachel turned to him, ready to tell him them same thing that she had told Mercedes, and at the far end of the corridor stood Puck, who gave her a small smile.

"Yeah," Rachel said distractedly, "It's true."

**A/N: Please review! I have much much more to write in this canon, the next chapter will be up soon.**


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